Weekly Update - 9/2/07

September 2, 2007 · 12 comments

Diet starting weight: 295

Week starting weight: 290

Today’s weight: 286

Week weight lost: 4 lbs

Total weight lost: 9 lbs

My biggest weekly lost posted yet! Is it any coincidence that this is the week I started cardio? I don’t think so. Feels good to get into the 280s but I’ve got my sights set on the 270s within a couple of weeks. I haven’t been there since we got back from a skiing trip to Colorado a couple of years ago.

Things I did well this week:

Followed my strength training program every day for the third straight week. Increased my weights in a few exercises and added a triceps exercise. Over 100 tons lifted so far!
Started my cardio program (finally!)
We grilled out last night and I made hamburgers for the family but a portobello mushroom burger for me. I have to say it tasted better than the hamburgers usually taste! (we buy those bulk frozen patties). Felt good to be able to fit my diet needs in with feeding the family.
Except as noted below, stuck pretty well to my eating plan.

Things I did not so well this week:

Still have not articulated weight loss goals and milestones.
I’m still not drinking enough water.
Stayed up late on Friday night and I couldn’t resist the siren call of a leftover kids hamburger and fries from dinner earlier. I ate it cold. Why??

So after a month on my fitness program I have lost 9 pounds. At the start of the month I thought that I would have lost more weight by now, simply because my previous diets always showed big losses the first month. However my plan from the start has been to build a sustainable lifestyle changing program and my expectation was that it was going to take me two years to get to my goal, which meant around 1 pound per week, or 4-5 pounds per month. So in that sense, I am ahead of expectation.

I’m really happy with this week. I need to find a way to remember how good this feels and hang it around my neck like a ward to protect me the next time I am faced with enemies like fast food leftovers. I can do it!

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{ 10 comments }

JanB September 2, 2007 at 7:01 am: Congratulations!! Here is what I do with the leftovers that I know I will be tempted with, but can’t (or choose not to) eat. I put them in the baggies, but then I put them in the back of the fridge. I know that they’re there, but I don’t want them front and center. I put the stuff that’s good for me there.

When a craving hits me I stop and think now, I say to myself, “Can I eat a can of green beans?” If the answer is no, then I am not really hungry, just craving. When I get to the point where I can eat beans or a can of mixed veggies (about 20 kcals/cup) then I am really hungry.
Angela September 2, 2007 at 12:06 pm: Here’s what I do with leftovers that I know I will binge on: I put them in the trash and squirt dish soap all over them. I know that you HAVE to save some stuff, though. I just make sure I can’t see it, like Jan says. Right now, I am living in peaceful cohabitation with a carton of icecream and a HUGE bag of dark chocolate bars. I think it’s because I can’t see them that I don’t think of them.
Also? It seems like you DID articulate wl goals and a time frame too-2 years…..which makes sense. I have found over the years that when I set “deadlines” I rarely meet them, and then I get discouraged. But that’s just me. It might work well for you.
john September 2, 2007 at 11:02 pm: Jan - I’m afraid putting them in the back isn’t going to be enough for me yet. If I get a hankering, and I know they are there, they are going to go down. I do like your method for determining between hunger and craving, I’m going to have to come up with something like that for me.

Angela - LOL! I love it - dish soap. The thing with these leftovers was that I knew my wife and kids weren’t going to eat them. So I had them boxed because I hated to see all that food wasted (they both had like 2 bites of their burgers) but I also knew the only person who was going to eat them was me, and I didn’t want to. I am happy to say that I threw the second box away, however.

Good point about my goals, I guess I have articulated some of them. And clearly as I hopefully move down in weight each 10 pound barrier becomes an obvious target. That’s a pretty good starting point.
Joey September 3, 2007 at 1:02 am: Great Job.

On the water front I get extra water in by having an insulated mug sitting on my desk with ice water. That way I am can get my water in while working.
john September 3, 2007 at 5:18 am: Thanks Joey. I’ve been meaning to buy a mug like that for work. We’ve got filter watered so refilling it throughout the day would be easy. Even so I have to learn to force myself to steadily drink throughout the day. A lot of times I’ll have a bottle of water and I’ll go the entire day before I finish it.
Wendy September 3, 2007 at 7:53 pm: Way to go, John. You are awesome. In my book, 9 pounds is great. I’ve read that when we are tired, we tend to eat more….perhaps this is a way to help us stay awake?

The important thing about your experience of eating leftovers is that you learn from it. When I find myself eating late at night, I do my best to remember my “3 Questions”.
It’s something that I teach in my classes and I’ll put it on my site http://www.ThinkSlimGetTrim.com soon.

In a nutshell the questions are:

1. Am I hungry? (There is a simple trick to find out the answer to this; if you feel it in your stomach and you don’t eat for a few minutes, the feeling will grow. If the desire/thought to eat comes on really quickly, then it’s emotional hunger).

2. What am I feeling RIGHT NOW?

3. What is it that I can DO RIGHT NOW to address this feeling?

hmmm…I’d better expand on these questions….I know that they are helpful. I know that eliminating my emotional connection to food allows me to be in control of what I eat.

John, sounds like you are doing really well. Making a public announcement to let go of weight. Creating your own support group here. You rock.
john September 3, 2007 at 9:05 pm: Thanks Wendy! I look forward to seeing you expand on those points on your blog - I agree there is a huge connection there. I grabbed a small bag of fritos today and couldn’t stop myself, and there was so many better things I could have eaten if I needed to eat, which I don’t think I did. Figuring out why I did that is an important step to figuring out how to stop myself.
Sarah September 4, 2007 at 12:43 pm: Way to go on the 4 pound loss and 9 pounds in a month! Those are GREAT numbers.
minke September 6, 2007 at 7:34 am: congrats on your weight loss!

I know how tough those leftovers can be. In my case I’m lucky, because I have the kids eating better too, and so I don’t generally have things like french fries in the house. The other thing I do is if they MUST have certain treats (carbs) I buy things I don’t like, so I won’t be tempted.
john September 6, 2007 at 7:57 am: Thanks Minke! I’ve found that when I want to be bad I’ll be bad with just about anything whether I truly like them or not - so buying things the kids like and I don’t, even if I could find such a thing, wouldn’t work for me. Just need to get past the temptation!